Overview of changes to the procedure of reservation of employees of humanitarian organisations liable for military service

Overview of changes to the procedure of reservation of employees of humanitarian organisations liable for military service

On 15 July 2026, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (the "CMU") adopted Resolution No. 954 "On Certain Issues of Acquisition and Deprivation of the Status of a Verified Humanitarian Organisation", which, among other things, introduced amendments to CMU Resolution No. 76 of 27 January 2023. These amendments broaden the opportunities for securing reservation from mobilisation for employees – for Ukrainian as well as for foreign and international non-governmental humanitarian organisations alike – as compared to those previously available.

Previously, Ukrainian non-governmental organisations were able to obtain the right to secure reservation from mobilisation for their employees subject to military service if they were included by the Ministry of Development in the list of Ukrainian non-governmental organisations implementing humanitarian projects financed by international partners, or if they obtained the status of an implementing partner of an international technical assistance project. Separated subdivisions of foreign and international non-governmental organisations, in turn, faced difficulties in obtaining the status of critically important for the functioning of the economy and for ensuring the livelihood of the population, owing to shortcomings in the applicable legal framework.

For details of the additional reservation mechanisms now available to humanitarian organisations, please see the overview below, prepared by the EVERLEGAL team presented by of Counsel Svitlana Teteria and Junior Associate Alina Ivanchuk.

1. Designation of verified humanitarian organisations as critically important

The above amendments provide for the possibility of reserving persons subject to military service who are employed by a verified humanitarian organisation that has been designated, in accordance with the established procedure, as critically important for the functioning of the economy and for ensuring the livelihood of the population in a special period.

This immediately raises the questions of which organisations qualify as humanitarian, what this verification is, and how it is carried out.

On 2 January 2026, amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On Humanitarian Aid", introduced by Law of Ukraine No. 4608-IX of 18 September 2025, entered into force. These amendments defined the concept of humanitarian organisations and introduced their verification.

Humanitarian organisations are organisations that operate in the field of humanitarian response in Ukraine in the following legal forms:

• public associations having the status of a legal entity, and charitable organisations; religious organisations that are legal entities and are included in the Register of Non-Profit Institutions and Organisations;
• accredited representative offices of foreign states, and separated subdivisions (representative offices, branches) of international and foreign humanitarian organisations (without the formation of a legal entity);
• the Ukrainian Red Cross Society and its local organisations having the status of a legal entity, through which the Society carries out its activities.

Accordingly, in order to qualify as humanitarian, such organisations must carry out humanitarian response, which consists of a set of actions and measures taken for the purpose of ensuring the livelihood of the population, overcoming or minimising the adverse consequences of difficult life circumstances, protecting the life and health of the population, conducting evacuation, providing humanitarian aid and social services, preventing the occurrence of emergency situations and eliminating their consequences, as well as for the purpose of overcoming and remedying the consequences of armed aggression or armed conflict, and restoring the condition of the natural environment, of facilities and structures forming part of life-support systems, and of property.

For the purposes of implementing the above legislative changes, the CMU, by the aforementioned Resolution No. 954 of 15 July 2026, regulated, among other things, the procedure for acquiring and losing the status of a verified humanitarian organisation ("VHO"). Obtaining this status enables organisations to import and register vehicles for their own use in the course of humanitarian response, benefit from a simplified procedure for submitting information on their driver employees for the purposes of crossing the state border, and obtain the critically important status for the purposes of reserving employees subject to military service.

A humanitarian organisation acquires the VHO status from the moment of its inclusion in the list maintained by the Ministry of Social Policy.

To acquire the VHO status, an organisation must comply with each of the following requirements:

• it must have had funding during the preceding calendar year (of at least UAH 2 million);
• it must have employees necessary to ensure humanitarian response;
• it must have internal standards of activity developed on the basis of impartiality, openness and transparency, and in accordance with the principles of business and professional ethics;
• it must have a public web page for publishing information on the activities of the humanitarian organisation;
• it must have published public and annual financial reports on the activities of the humanitarian organisation for the last two years.

Provided that compliance with the above requirements is confirmed, decisions on the inclusion of a humanitarian organisation in the list of VHOs will be taken within 72 hours from the submission of the relevant application, automatically, by way of verification of the declared information in the automated system for the registration of humanitarian aid.

The VHO status will be granted for a term of 12 months, with the possibility of confirming this status for a new term.

However, it is important to note that, as of today, the procedure for verifying humanitarian organisations is not yet operational in practice, since the Ministry of Social Policy is required, within three months from the date of entry into force of CMU Resolution No. 954 of 15 July 2026, to ensure the technical capability for its implementation in the automated system for the registration of humanitarian aid. Therefore, for the time being, humanitarian organisations wishing to acquire the VHO status should verify their compliance with the established criteria and prepare for the moment when the Ministry of Social Policy begins accepting the relevant applications through the automated system for the registration of humanitarian aid.

At the same time, the acquisition of the VHO status will not automatically confer on an organisation the right to reserve its employees.

Pursuant to paragraph 1-1 of CMU Resolution No. 927 of 9 October 2020 "On Certain Issues of Organising the Maintenance of the Automated System for the Registration of Humanitarian Aid" (as amended by CMU Resolution No. 954 of 15 July 2026), the right to submit applications for recognition as critically important for the functioning of the economy and for ensuring the livelihood of the population in a special period will be available not to all VHOs, but only to those operating in the form of a public association having the status of a legal entity or of a charitable organisation.

In order to obtain the critically important status for the purposes of reserving employees, VHOs must confirm, by way of an application to the Ministry of Social Policy, their compliance with an additional criterion established by CMU Resolution No. 76 of 27 January 2023: the volume of the organisation's expenditure according to its report on the use of income (profits) of a non-profit organisation for the year preceding the date of submission of the application must amount to at least UAH 10 million of aid provided per each employee liable for military service who is to be reserved. Following its consideration of the application, the Ministry of Social Policy is to adopt a decision designating the VHO as critically important for the functioning of the economy and for ensuring the livelihood of the population in a special period. This status will likewise be granted for a term of 12 months, with the possibility of confirming it for a new term, provided that the VHO status remains in force.

Once the "critically important" status has been obtained, VHOs will be able to reserve all of their employees subject to military service who are eligible for reservation, without any limitation. In addition, the requirement to accrue to such employees a monthly salary, throughout the period for which they are reserved, of not less than the national minimum wage multiplied by a coefficient of 2.5 does not apply to the reservation of VHO employees.

2. Designation of separated subdivisions of foreign humanitarian organisations accredited in Ukraine as critically important

CMU Resolution No. 954 of 15 July 2026 also introduced amendments to the twenty-third subparagraph of paragraph 2 of the Criteria and Procedure for Designating Enterprises, Institutions and Organisations as Critically Important for the Functioning of the Economy and for Ensuring the Livelihood of the Population in a Special Period, and as Critically Important for Meeting the Needs of the Armed Forces and Other Military Formations in a Special Period, approved by CMU Resolution No. 76 of 27 January 2023 (the "Criteria"). These amendments expressly provide that permanent establishments of non-residents (foreign companies and organisations) which carry out activities in Ukraine and may be designated by the Ministry of Economy as critically important for the functioning of the economy and for ensuring the livelihood of the population in a special period include separated subdivisions (branches, representative offices) of foreign humanitarian organisations accredited in Ukraine. As far as we are aware, certain separated subdivisions of international and foreign humanitarian organisations had previously encountered difficulties in obtaining the "critically important" status, since many of them are registered in the legal form of a branch, which was not mentioned in the previous wording of that subparagraph of the Criteria.

In order to be designated as critically important for the functioning of the economy and for ensuring the livelihood of the population in a special period, separated subdivisions of foreign humanitarian organisations must confirm their compliance with the criteria established for all permanent establishments of non-residents in the twenty-third subparagraph of paragraph 2 of the Criteria and in paragraph 6 of the Criteria for Designating Enterprises, Institutions and Organisations of Significance for Sectors of the National Economy, approved by Order of the Ministry of Economy No. 6954 of 24 June 2026. Specifically, such subdivisions must:

• have carried out activities in Ukraine over the last two calendar years;
• be accredited (registered) in Ukraine in accordance with the procedure established by law;
• be registered with the tax authorities of Ukraine;
• not be subject to international sanctions recognised by Ukraine in accordance with the procedure established by law, or to special economic or other restrictive measures (sanctions) applied pursuant to Article 5 of the Law of Ukraine No. 1644-VII of 14 August 2014 "On Sanctions";
• not carry out activities in the territories temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation that are included in the list of territories where hostilities are (or were) ongoing or that are temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation, approved by an Order of the Ministry of Development, for which no date of the end of the temporary occupation has been determined, or in the territory of the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus;
• have an accrued average salary of employees of not less than the national average salary for the last reporting tax year multiplied by a coefficient of 3 (for 2025, that amount, with the coefficient applied, is UAH 78,040.11). Compliance with the latter criterion is to be assessed using the national average salary data published by the State Statistics Service. For the purpose of calculating the average salary of employees, the relevant clarification issued by the Ministry of Economy may be used.

In addition, a separated subdivision must attach to its application a copy of the relevant electronic financial statements for the last reporting period, instead of a copy of its tax returns.

Once designated as critically important, separated subdivisions of foreign humanitarian organisations will be able to reserve no more than 50 per cent of the total number of their employees liable for military service.

If your organisation has not yet obtained the critically important status and wishes to take advantage of the new opportunities, the EVERLEGAL team will be glad to assist. For any questions or advice, please get in touch by completing the short form on our website.

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